‘Overburdened’ and ‘broken’ system failing to deter drivers, lawyer say
Meredith Wilkinson lost her right leg six years ago when she was hit by a garbage truck and dragged under its front tire. To get her license back, she had to go through driver retraining.
But the driver who hit her in a bike lane in Toronto didn’t have to go through any training.
“I had to go through [retraining], and I thought that made sense because my body had changed and there are checks and balances,” she said.
“But it’s crazy that the driver who did that to me wouldn’t have to go through that kind of driver training right now.”
Wilkinson wants that to change. He is a transportation engineer in Toronto. She wants the Highway Traffic Act (HTA) to be changed by a provincial NDP bill.
If the Moving Ontarians Safely Act is passed, any driver convicted of an HTA violation who seriously hurts or kills a pedestrian, cyclist, or other person who is not in a car would have their license suspended and be put on probation.
Before getting their license back, the driver on probation would have to take a course on how to drive safely and do community service related to driving safety. The first reading of the bill has been approved by the Ontario Legislature.
“If that happened to you, you’d want the driver to get better, right? And how can we teach them to drive better? “They might not go to jail or have to pay a lot of money,” Wilkinson said.
“Maybe because it’s more punishing, more of these charges will stick.”
In Wilkinson’s case, she says the driver was charged with careless driving at the scene, but the paperwork wasn’t done right, so the case couldn’t go to court. Someone in her situation wouldn’t be affected by the changes.
But recently, thousands of other careless driving charges in Ontario have been dropped and, in some cases, the charges have been reduced. At least some of these cases would be affected by the changes.
CBC Toronto looked at data from the Ontario Court of Justice and found that the number of careless driving charges in the province as a whole and in Toronto in particular has gone down in recent years, while the number of charges that are dropped before trial has gone through the roof.
Between 2015 and 2022, the number of these charges filed in Ontario dropped by 27%, or almost 10,000.
During the same time period, the number of charges that were dropped before going to trial rose by 374%, with 5,139 more charges being dropped before trial in 2022 than in 2015.
In the same time period, the number of charges brought dropped by 39% in Toronto, while the number of charges dropped before going to trial went up by 52%.
More charges are being dropped or pleaded down to a lesser charge by prosecutors who don’t have enough resources and have a lot of work to do because of the COVID-19 pandemic, say lawyers who represent both drivers and people who were hurt.
Patrick Brown, a lawyer in Toronto, said, “It’s a system that’s been overworked.” “Especially with COVID, you need to hire more prosecutors and give them more money so they can prepare a case properly.”
Brown has been dealing with HTA violations for more than 25 years as a lawyer for people who have been hurt in car accidents. He says that the numbers don’t surprise him.
“The system is broken,” Brown said. “The whole system seems to make it impossible to come to a real conclusion about these charges that would send a strong message to people to stop doing this kind of thing.”
Brown says that past efforts to stop careless driving by increasing fines and jail time have backfired and made drivers fight the charges with more vigor. He says that means “more and more people will plead down to a lower thing because the system is overloaded.”
Cities and the provinces both bring HTA charges to court
Most cities and towns in Ontario have a mix of city prosecutors and provincial Crown attorneys who handle HTA cases. In Toronto, the province is usually in charge of more serious charges, like when a person is given a summons to appear in court instead of just a ticket.
A representative for Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, where Crowns work, said that the ministry can’t say anything about how cases turn out.
“In general, we can advise that the Crown will consider the individual facts, circumstances and available evidence in a case when taking a position on resolution and when recommending an appropriate sentence to the Court,” said Maher Abdurahman in a statement.
“Our focus is to ensure that our existing protections work effectively to change the behaviour of offenders and reduce the risk for all road users.”
A spokesperson for the City of Toronto said it does not comment on judicial outcomes, but acknowledged the pandemic’s temporary closure of courts caused some backlog and delays across the province.
Those delays sometimes see prosecutors drop charges if they decide the case can’t be brought to court “within a reasonable amount of time… in light of a defendant’s Charter rights,” said spokesperson Eric Holmes in a statement.
The drop in careless driving charges can partly be attributed to officers laying more precise charges, but also goes back to staffing and other resource shortages for police and courts, according to the president of the Toronto Police Association.
“No matter the charge, it’s frustrating for [officers] when an equally under-resourced court decides not to proceed with cases,” said Jon Reid in a statement.
“This is the reality of our current justice system. Without proper investments in policing and the courts, the reductions we’re seeing in enforcement and prosecutions will continue.”
HTA charges getting purge
Paralegal Jami Sanftleben, who largely defends clients on HTA charges, says right now it’s worth it for his clients to wait and see what happens in court.
“You have a better chance than in the past of getting a favourable resolution — I think because of that backlog and because of the lack of resources,” he said. “There is a chance they could get a very good offer to resolve.”
Sanftleben says several major municipalities like Toronto are facing massive backlogs of HTA cases and “every once in a while” prosecutors will do a purge of charges, in what he thinks is an effort to catch up.
When it comes to changing the outcomes of these charges, Brown sees solutions in the amendments proposed to the HTA.
“That law would prevent all these people from pleading down on careless driving because they’re not going to avoid that minimum sentence,” he said, referring to the proposed suspended license until community service and a driving course are completed.
CBC Toronto asked Attorney General Doug Downey’s office whether the government supports the bill. A spokesperson said it will go “through the normal course, with opportunity for debate and a vote by members of the House.”
For her part, Wilkinson hopes the proposed changes could mean others injured by drivers get the closure and peace of mind she says she was denied in her case.
“It’s just about making better drivers, making it safer out there for vulnerable road users,” she said.
“That feels like a good start.”